Bob's Perspective -

[IceBeam]

Seeing as Bob came from a much different generation and mindset than Chris, how do you think he felt with a son that spent his adult life playing vidya and getting kicked out of college and game stores? How about when/if he found shit-covered anal beads in the trash? How do you think such an old-fashioned, conservative gentleman dealt with Chris's escapades?

 

[Long Sun]

I think Bob at some point just hit on that "The school was right my boy is a retard, things will go good if he just plays the TV all day"

 

[Vincent]

Honestly, I feel bad for Bob. He may not have been the best influence on Chris, but unlike Barb, he actually tried to raise Chris properly, but due to being from a different time and at an advanced age, was unable to successfully do so (although Barb also hindered Bob's efforts as well)

He didn't need to die the way he did, and while he may have been a bitter old man with bigoted tendencies, can you really blame him? His son was a failure, his wife ruined his house, and he went from a respected engineer to a shell of a man in his final years with a despicable wife and a retarded son.

The main reason why Bob was so insistent that Chris be mainstreamed was out of a misguided sense of caringness for him. Bob was from a different time, when special education and mental health facilities were like Bedlam House or the asylum from Amadeus. He didn't realize that in the 90's, Special Ed and Mental Health had advanced and would have helped Chris greatly. Had Bob known better, I'd like to think Bob would have sent Chris to Special Ed and got him the help he needed. This is conjecture, but Bob always struck me as the only person in Chris's life who actually wanted to help him, but due to his age and antequated mindset, had no idea how to properly help Chris.

Yes, Bob was a bit racist and homophobic, as were most elderly Southerners who grew up in the 1930's, and yes, he ultimately failed in raising Chris, but unlike Barb, he actually TRIED to make a difference, whereas Barb saw (and still sees) Chris as a glorified pet for the hoard. If Bob knew better, he probably would have given Chris the help he really needed.

I stand by my statement that the only people who truly cared for Chris were Bob (the one parent who didn't see Chris as something to possess) and Megan (his only friend, who had the patience of a saint). It's just Bob was so behind the times, he couldn't see the impact of some of his mistakes (namely mainstreaming Chris). Plus, Barb was a shitty wife who ruined Chris's life as well as the house. And then confined Bob to a terrible death in the hoard.

I truly feel bad for Bob.

 

[Satoru182]

I think it was too much for the old lumberjack to deal with. At his age he did not had the energy to actively watch Chris over, so he let him at his own devices in his room. I Bob did not know or learned too late that the internet could be a dangerous influence on his son. So I think Bob really did not know much about what Chris was doing.
But judging Bobs reaction when he catch him mass debating I think he would have been more aggressive on controlling Chris activities If he knew about it.

 

[Henry Bemis]

Honestly, I feel bad for Bob. He may not have been the best influence on Chris, but unlike Barb, he actually tried to raise Chris properly, but due to being from a different time and at an advanced age, was unable to successfully do so (although Barb also hindered Bob's efforts as well)

My rebuttal might as well be my signature. In fact, it is.

He didn't need to die the way he did, and while he may have been a bitter old man with bigoted tendencies, can you really blame him? His son was a failure, his wife ruined his house, and he went from a respected engineer to a shell of a man in his final years with a despicable wife and a retarded son.

What does his family life have to do with his (possible) bigotry?

The main reason why Bob was so insistent that Chris be mainstreamed was out of a misguided sense of caringness for him. Bob was from a different time, when special education and mental health facilities were like Bedlam House or the asylum from Amadeus. He didn't realize that in the 90's, Special Ed and Mental Health had advanced and would have helped Chris greatly. Had Bob known better, I'd like to think Bob would have sent Chris to Special Ed and got him the help he needed. This is conjecture, but Bob always struck me as the only person in Chris's life who actually wanted to help him, but due to his age and antiquated mindset, had no idea how to properly help Chris.

If only Bob had spent some time in the company of doctors who know a thing or two about autism; they could've told him all about Chris's condition, that "caring for him" no longer means permanent consignment in a straightjacket and padded cell, and other such things in-what?-a relatively short amount of time.

Oh wait. He did spend some time with them, when Chris was diagnosed. For such a studious individual (if his love of foreign countries was any indication), his failure to ask these questions represents a glaring oversight.

Yes, Bob was a bit racist and homophobic, as were most elderly Southerners who grew up in the 1930's, and yes, he ultimately failed in raising Chris, but unlike Barb, he actually TRIED to make a difference, whereas Barb saw (and still sees) Chris as a glorified pet for the hoard. If Bob knew better, he probably would have given Chris the help he really needed.

He knew enough to set Chris up for SSDI. He knew enough to intimidate two school boards. He knew enough to muddy the exact nature of Chris's condition so that people whose job it is to do the best for others would get tired of the ensuing headache and just pass Chris along. For nearly thirty years, he put in a lot of effort to squeeze Chris through the cracks. As said above, effort that didn't need spending if he just sat down, swallowed his pride and listened for a bit.

I stand by my statement that the only people who truly cared for Chris were Bob (the one parent who didn't see Chris as something to possess) and Megan (his only friend, who had the patience of a saint). It's just Bob was so behind the times, he couldn't see the impact of some of his mistakes (namely mainstreaming Chris). Plus, Barb was a shitty wife who ruined Chris's life as well as the house. And then confined Bob to a terrible death in the hoard.

Barb is from roughly the same time as Bob, or at least the same time-frame that depicted mental healthcare in such a draconian manner. So why does Bob get the excuse of being behind the times, but Barb doesn't?

 

[MysticMisty]

Barb is from roughly the same time as Bob, or at least the same time-frame that depicted mental healthcare in such a draconian manner. So why does Bob get the excuse of being behind the times, but Barb doesn't?

If I had to guess, it's because Barb is less involved in Chris' life, and is responsible for the current state of their overall house. And also because Bob yelled at Chris for uploading the videos of their house onto the internet, and walked in on Chris mass-debating in the kitchen (and cut down the internet for it).

 

[Henry Bemis]

Barb is from roughly the same time as Bob, or at least the same time-frame that depicted mental healthcare in such a draconian manner. So why does Bob get the excuse of being behind the times, but Barb doesn't?

If I had to guess, it's because Barb is less involved in Chris' life, and is responsible for the current state of their overall house. And also because Bob yelled at Chris for uploading the videos of their house onto the internet, and walked in on Chris mass-debating in the kitchen (and cut down the internet for it).

"I don't care what you do" is an absolutely brilliant summation of Bob's parenting. Better yet, it came straight from the man himself.

But what was Bob more mad about: that his son did something stupid, or that he allowed his son and house to fester into such a state?

 

[BigAltheGreat921]

I truly feel bad for Bob.

I do too, but the fact that autism was such a foreign concept to him and Chris' inheritance of his racist attitudes doesn't make Bob much better than Barb.

 

[calicojack]

I truly feel bad for Bob.

I do too, but the fact that autism was such a foreign concept to him and Chris' inheritance of his racist attitudes doesn't make Bob much better than Barb.

I would have to say Bob was a better parent than Barbara. She didn't really contribute anything to Chris' life other than coddling him for the majority of his life.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

I don't think it's right to let Bob off the hook due to him being from a different generation. Sure, he comes from a time when mental healthcare was crude at best, and racist and bigoted attitudes were commonplace, but he also came from a time when discipline, good work ethic, respect for others, self improvement, understanding the value of money, and just plain common decency were valuable traits for a person to adopt.

He knew enough about Chris' condition to set him up with a monthly injection of free money from the government, yet has seemingly never done a thing to improve that condition. He apparently cared enough about Chris' future at some point when he suggested he take the CAD course, but he obviously gave up on him doing anything worthwhile with his life soon after. Even if he decided that his son was going to fail at life no matter what he studied, he could still have provided Chris with a proper structured home life, discipline, and ensured that he carried out tasks around the home regularly to instill some sort of work ethic.

But he failed to do any of this. He just left Chris to his own devices to alternate between rotting in his room screaming at the internet, and venturing forth into the local community to harass business owners, stalk young women, and generally make a bloody nuisance of himself. All whilst pissing his government money away by buying children's toys and expensive video games and consoles.

The end result is Christian, Weston, Chandler. A truly spectacular amalgamation of many of the worst human traits from the past 100 years. He's got all the small minded bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia, and just plain lack of tolerance for anybody "different" of a bygone era, whilst he also adopts the selfish, greedy, lazy, entitled, materialistic, egocentric attitudes so common in today's society.

 

[QI 541]

He's at least as delusional and gullible as Chris if he believes in troll conspiracies and Chris's credit card getting hacked (Although given how stupid Chris is, that isn't too implausible).

 

[CatParty]

bob is the lesser of the evils. not innocent, but also the closest of the usual suspects to being a sympathetic character.
barb was a leech on him from the beginning and there wasn't anything that was going to change that.
chris on the other hand, when his parents realized he had mental issues, decided to raise him as a "retard" or a pariah. this is because of them being from a different era.

 

[QI 541]

chris on the other hand, when his parents realized he had mental issues, decided to raise him as a "retard" or a pariah. this is because of them being from a different era.

I don't really follow this. If that's truly how his parents felt, they wouldn't have ever sent him to PVCC. I'm sure they completely gave up on him at some point, but only after he's repeatedly shown how hopeless he is.

 

[CatParty]

chris on the other hand, when his parents realized he had mental issues, decided to raise him as a "retard" or a pariah. this is because of them being from a different era.

I don't really follow this. If that's truly how his parents felt, they wouldn't have ever sent him to PVCC. I'm sure they completely gave up on him at some point, but only after he's repeatedly shown how hopeless he is.

pvcc and the wendy's job were like the last ditch effort in borb's "mainstreaming" to try to make him normal. they pretty much just said "fuck it" after that.

 

[DykesDykesChina]

I think Bob's mindset and emotions oscillated between two states:
1. I want my son to have a normal, productive life, so I will ignore this autism-thing, he should be mainstreamed, go to college, learn CADD, start a solid existence.
2. My son is a fucking drooling retard who will never go beyond toddler level.
Unfortunately, 2. won out in the long run. The reason for this was IMO that Bob, being from a bygone era etc., didn't understand that in order to realize 1. he shouldn't have ignored the autism, but accepted it as an obstacle to be overcome, and set up Chris with therapy and special schooling etc.

 

[Henry Bemis]

chris on the other hand, when his parents realized he had mental issues, decided to raise him as a "retard" or a pariah. this is because of them being from a different era.

I don't really follow this. If that's truly how his parents felt, they wouldn't have ever sent him to PVCC. I'm sure they completely gave up on him at some point, but only after he's repeatedly shown how hopeless he is.

pvcc and the wendy's job were like the last ditch effort in borb's "mainstreaming" to try to make him normal. they pretty much just said "fuck it" after that.

Kinda like their churchgoing, PVCC and Wendy's were Borb's lip service efforts at integrating Chris into society; just getting him under the roof of any college or any minimum-wage establishment was more than sufficient.

Little did they anticipate, though, that their insistence on mainstreaming Chris meant that the school and the manager were only obligated to hold him to the same standards as everyone else. So Chris didn't get the benefit of being a special-needs person, but instead sank to the bottom like the moron and burden he would irrevocably become.

 

[drmccoy]

I just think Bob was tired or dealing with it. He was in his late 70s and 80s when all this shit occurred. He probably was tired and, I bet, depressed. That leads to him not really giving much of a shit anymore.

There are lots of legit criticisms of Bob. I still think he was alright despite them.

 

[RoguesGallery]

From Bob's perspective he did everything he could for Chris, he moved house so that Chris could be mainstreamed,got Chris into a college ( even if it was a shitty one) and got him on SSDI. To Bob this was probably a success, then when Bob was on his death and Chris came in all his tomgirl regalia stuffing his face with Mcdonalds. Bob did the only thing he could do, he reach deep into his pocket and pulled out a card. With his last ounce of strength he threw the card, hitting his son right between his blank staring eyes, his son looked down at the card on the floor and etched into the card one simple word FAG.

Also for everyone who says Bob is old fashioned Bob did what any modern 14 year old would do if the saw Chris they'd call him a fag thus making Bob a trendsetter. So from Bob's perspective everything he did for Chris was a success except for when he thought Chris was gay and he probably blamed Barb for that.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

He's at least as delusional and gullible as Chris if he believes in troll conspiracies and Chris's credit card getting hacked (Although given how stupid Chris is, that isn't too implausible).

Did we ever learn where Bobs belief in Chris' card being hacked originated from? Did Chris just blatantly lie about about how much money he was wasting on meaningless shite, or did Bob just pull the theory out his ass without any prompting?

 

[Fuzzy Wuzzy]

I'm going to be honest here. I don't think Bob was any better than Barb because he and Barb shared the same belief that they would steal their son and lock him up in an asylum. Granted they're old but even most of the old people around me I know of are updated with new medical information. They could've listened to what the school or doctor was saying about putting Chris into a special needs school. Bob probably refused to ask more about the special needs school in question and just ignored possible help and took Chris away from the help he needs. If he listened and asked more question about what the special needs school would do to Chris along with his rights to see Chris as a parent, then maybe Chris would turn out to be better than he is. So that's my opinion and that's what I think of Bob; no better than Barb. Not to mention according to Cole, Bob and Barb were just both shitty as each other getting drunk before spawning the manchild we know of today.